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United States -- individual schools St. Joseph School
U.S. School: St. Joseph School (unknown state)
Figure 1.--This wonderful panoramic class portrait shows a great parochial 1st grade class. We know it is a Catholic school, even though we do not see the nun. We know it is a Catholic school not only because of the name, but there is a shrine at the back of the room. Like public schools, there was a strong patriotic ethos promoted in the school. Notice how the boys are honoring the flag. And the one boy wearing a sailor suit was chosen for the honor guard. Inconprehensibly, many modern educators today have the idea that there is something wrong with patriotism and honoring the flag. There were something like 40 children in the class. That is way too large for a 1st grade class, surely the most important grade because it is where most children learn to read. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the class.
This wonderful panoramic class portrait shows a great parochial 1st grade class. We know it is a Catholic school, even though we do not see the nun. We know it is a Catholic school not only because of the name, but there is a shrine at the back of the room. An important political issue was American Catholocism. Like public schools, there was a strong patriotic ethos promoted in the school. Notice how the boys are honoring the flag. Incomprehensibly, many modern educators today have the idea that there is something wrong with patriotism and honoring the flag. An issue at the time in Protestant America was the patriotism of Catholics. Many Americans believed that they owed first allience to the Pope. This was an issue not put to rest until Senator John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960. Interestingly in elections since, Catholic voters have proven the most stalwartly patriotic of virtually all voter groups except Evagelical Protestants. There were something like 40 children in the class. That is way too large for a 1st grade class, surely the most important grade because it is where most children learn to read. Strict discipline was needed for a 1st grade class this large and the nun looks to have them well under control. Parochial schools received no state funds and for the most part, Catholic parishes were working-class communities with families with limited incomes. Thus money was always tight. We do not know where the school was located. There have to be quite a number of St. Joseph schools. We would guess it is somewhere in the Northeast or industrial Midwest. The portrait is also undated. We believe it was taken about 1910. If it had been taken earlier we believe there would have been more boys wearing floppy bows. And we see at one boy wearing knickers rather straight-leg knee pants. That suggesrs the 1910s. There were no uniform, but notice that all the boys except for the sailor suit boy wear white shirts and neckwear. The girls mostly wear white dresses. We are not sure that was a rule, but when ever you see such consisrebcy, it suggests a rule. The most notable clothing item is the huge hair bows that many of th firls sport.
